''France and Germany Move to Resume Arms Sales to China''

PINR, On January 27, French President Jacques Chirac held a joint conference with Chinese President Hu Jintao to celebrate the “Year of China” in Paris. Chirac used the occasion to publicly call for the lifting of the European Union arms embargo on China. France and Germany have succeeded in pushing the E.U. to review the embargo and have urged the E.U. to take action before the March entrance of ten new members. On February 4, Javier Solana, the E.U. foreign policy chief, was quoted in the Geneva newspaper Le Temps as saying, “It seems to me, after discussions we had a few days ago